Velia impresses as usual! Neat clues with really well thought out surfaces that kept me on my toes.
Trickier parsings always prove rewarding to solve, such as EPISTOLARY, REFRIGERATOR, TANGIBLE ASSETS. A very enjoyable puzzle overall, so many thanks to Velia.
Across
1 Handicap: Velia’s deep in trouble (6)
IMPEDE
I’M (Velia’s) + (DEEP)* (*in trouble)
4 Come together when disorder returns with capacity to contain it (8)
ASSEMBLE
MESS< (disorder, <returns), ABLE (with capacity) to contain it
9 Old, into undies – extremely disgusting! (6)
ODIOUS
O[l]D I[nt]O U[ndie]S (extremely)
10 Rubber gloves ruin one medal (8)
MARIGOLD
MAR (ruin) + I (one) + GOLD (medal)
12 Knowing to take the first of the month off (4)
ARCH
[m]ARCH
13 Beat in song producing heart trouble (10)
ARRHYTHMIA
RHYTHM (beat) in ARIA (song)
15 Royal following orient light is a christian symbol (6,6)
EASTER CANDLE
ER (royal) following EAST (orient) + CANDLE (light)
18 Arbitrator set up a retro-style appliance (12)
REFRIGERATOR
REF (arbitrator) + RIG (set up) + (A RETRO)* (*style)
21 Special role is coming up – likely audition required at the start (10)
PARTICULAR
PART (role) + I[s] C[oming] U[p] L[ikely] A[udition] R[equired] (at the start)
22 Greeting sounding more cheerful (4)
HIYA
“HIGHER” (more cheerful, “sounding”)
24, 25 Substantial returns in brown fields firms up stuff of value (8,6)
TANGIBLE ASSETS
BIG< (substantial, <returns) in TAN LEAS (brown fields) + SETS (firms up)
26 Thus token arrangement needed for time off (4,4)
SICK NOTE
SIC (thus) + (TOKEN)* (*arrangement)
27 Freezing a Roman Catholic movement (6)
ARCTIC
A RC (Roman Catholic) + TIC (movement)
Down
1 Pagan vows in future (8)
IDOLATER
I DO (vows) + LATER (in future)
2 Royal home counties first to get media coverage (8)
PRINCESS
IN (home) + C (counties’ first) to get PRESS (media, coverage)
3, 23 Doctor extremely understanding, sure to reform addict (4,4)
DRUG USER
DR (doctor) + U[nderstandin]G (extremely) + (SURE)* (*to reform)
5 Rob disrupting grandma’s bash! (5-3-4)
SMASH-AND-GRAB
(GRANDMAS BASH)* (*disrupting)
6 Tired out west gun-toting literary style (10)
EPISTOLARY
[w]EARY (tired, out W (west)), toting PISTOL
7 Sweepers in second rate digs? (6)
BROOMS
B ROOMS (second rate digs)
8 Make beloved say, “what comes after M darling?” (6)
ENDEAR
“N, Dear” (answers the question in the clue, “say”)
11 Targeting aid is right during awfully cruel battle (6,6)
TRACER BULLET
R (right) during (CRUEL BATTLE)* (*awfully)
14 Box of novelties I distributed (10)
TELEVISION
(NOVELTIES I)* (*distributed)
16 Harsh dirt’s dished up on hospital department (8)
STRIDENT
DIRTS< (<dished up) on ENT (hospital department)
ENT = ear, nose and throat
17 Is racist out of control in this period? (8)
TRIASSIC
(IS RACIST)* (*out of control)
19 Series of unfortunate events spread on board (6)
SPATES
PATE (spread) in SS (on board)
SS is an abbreviation for steamship. Pate within SS implies it is “on board”.
20 Some kir on ice with a twist 2(6)
IRONIC
[k]IR ON IC[e] (some)
Presumably the “2” is a typo
23 See 3
Harder than usual for Velia but all the more enjoyable for it. Wasn’t sure “I do” for “vows” plural.
Thanks to Velia and Teacow.
I agree with all Teacow says, and can add nothing more. Thanks for a good Monday, Velia, and to Teacow for the assiduous parsing.
Can you explain how rubber gloves = marigold?
Coby@3: it’s a household name in the UK: https://www.marigold.co.uk/
6 weeks ago I’d have had difficulty with 13a. But then a Doctor in Spain told me what caused me to spend 3 days in hospital.
Thanks to Velia and Teacow. Enjoyable. I parsed MARIGOLD but then had to look it up. TRACER BULLETS and TANGIBLE ASSETS took me a while.
Despite MARIGOLD being a household name here we failed to solve 10ac without a word finder; we thought at first it was an anagram of ‘one medal’, but all that yielded was ‘lemonade’ which didn’t fit the crossing letters. We needed a word finder, too, for EPISTOLARY, although we saw the parsing once we’d got it. But we got and parsed everything else.
An interesting challenge after today’s decidedly easier offering from the Indy.
Thanks, Velia and Teacow
Thanks – really enjoyed that!
Thanks Velia for so many satisfying clues particularly those that yielded TANGIBLE ASSETS, IDOLATER, PRINCESS, ENDEAR, and SPATES. Thanks Teacow for parsing and to Megan for the link to MARIGOLD, an answer I knew had to be correct despite not making sense to me.
Thanks Velia and Teacow
Found this one to be well above the normal Monday difficulty level and very enjoyable nevertheless. Started off with DRUG USER to get a start in two of the quadrants.
Both ODIOUS and ENDEAR raised chuckles.
Kept stumbling with the spelling of ARRHYTHMIA for a while.
Finished in the NE corner with EPISTOLARY (which was vaguely familiar), EASTER CANDLE and the unknown hometown knowledge of MARIGOLD rubber gloves as the last one in.